Start Me Up and Keep Me Growing: Management Learnings from the Rolling Stones

The world’s most famous and long-living band started out 60 years ago in London with the mission to bring American blues music to a European audience. The young band expected to last two years at best, the rest is history. This easy-to-read and thoughtful book looks at how the Stones managed to last six decades in a rapidly changing world. How they relentlessly competed, disrupted, changed, adapted, innovated, grew – artistically, financially and as pillars of society – and how they manged to overcome the inevitable challenges of interpersonal dynamics in their life-spanning career. Written in the style of a chronological business school case study, this book looks at the evolving decision-making processes of the Stones as a professional services firm. It emphasizes the commonality of all business collaborations, where different temperaments must join forces to bring about lasting success. Corporate executives, start-up founders and talent managers can find a wealth of inspiration during a flight (long-haul or delayed). Management school professors, coaches and personal development trainers may use the book as a working tool and exploit its many narratives about hiring, firing, investing, and spending. All readers will likely find that there is as much halo in between the lines as there is ink on paper.

Bertold Bär-Bouyssiere, a passionate Rolling Stones fan of many years, is an international business lawyer and member of the EU Brussels Bubble with three decades of legal, governance and management experience.